"Conspiracism surfaces in sync with the ups and downs of a nation, taking root in its excesses and its crises, and flourishing particularly among groups who feel economically or politically marginalized. People end up susceptible to outlandish ideas not because they're inordinately foolish or ill-intentioned, but because they're living in times of enormous socioeconomic instability and political discord. Put another way, conspiracy theories aren't eroding democracy so much as they signal that a democracy is already decaying. Combating them effectively has less to do with sounding the alarm than with taking up a broader fight for economic equality and for robust, democratic social institutions."
J.C. Pan at The New Republic reviews Anna Merlan's Republic of Lies: American Conspiracy Theorists and Their Surprising Rise to Power and Thomas Milan Konda's Conspiracies of Conspiracies: How Delusions Have Overrun America.
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